The present invention relates to a handheld device that will send stored messages to an attached computer printer. The device, when connected to the computer printer, requires no battery or external power to operate.
Conventionally, devices which connect to computer printers are meant to perform functional tests, i.e., to test the operation of one or more functions of the subject computer printer. In the present invention, the actual message delivered to the computer printer is not limited to computer printer test purposes and, as will be described in following sections, can be used for many other purposes unrelated to computer printer testing. However, since most prior art is directed toward the use of such devices to test computer printers, discussion in this section is focused on delivering messages to computer printers for the purpose of performing functional tests.
Computer printer tests are performed for a variety of reasons. The purposes of such tests include testing of the paper handling mechanism, testing of the inking or toner properties, testing of the character forming ability, testing of the various controls found on the subject printer, testing of internal electronics or testing of final print quality.
For these and other similar test purposes, devices are connected to computer printers so that testing can occur during manufacture of the computer printer, during quality control inspections, as incoming inspection by purchasers of computer printers, during periodic maintenance or while repairing the computer printer as the result of a failure. The following examples are considered to be representative of the prior art and are burdened by the disadvantages set forth herein.
One such testing device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,555 to Ichikawa, stores an array of operating parameters for the printer under test, and, under control of a master test program, randomly cycles through various driving functions, measuring the results either by monitoring status messages from the printer or by human review. In this device, each type of printer to be tested requires its own operating parameter array and the operating parameter array must be changed for each type of printer device tested.
Another test device, U.S. Pat. No. 6,400,462 to Hille, is intended for operation by trained maintenance personnel. This device provides a display monitor so that different menus of test activities can be presented to the operator resulting in test messages generated and sent to the printer under test. The results are monitored by the operator so that an appropriate course of operator intervention can be determined.
Yet another device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,307 to Machino, et al., attempts to analyze the results of a status query and automatically create a set of test patterns to be delivered to the printer. The ability to analyze results from previously programmed computer algorithms residing in and executed by the test device. In this instance, the test device itself resembles a small computer.
Still another testing device U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,774 to Kikuchi is limited to a specific type of computer printer, an electrophotographic imaging device. This device is itself sufficiently complex so as to resemble the computers to which the printer is normally connected.
As an additional drawback, none of the above devices are easily portable and all require external power or replaceable/rechargeable battery power.
The above examples show that computer printer testers can be complex, expensive to manufacture and demanding of operator training. Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus which is simple in function, inexpensive to manufacture, portable, non-demanding of operator training, can be operated without outside power or battery power and can deliver a message to a computer printer, which message may be used to test the computer printer.